Chapter 1168: Matrix Square and Circle

Amidst flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder, the figure of the Fourth True Sovereign had already streaked across the sky, tearing through the void. His speed was astonishing, like a long spear capable of piercing heaven and earth. With an overwhelming force, engulfing endless lightning, he swept in with destructive power.

With a roar, he pierced through the Sword Forge's barrier. Amidst the wind and rain, accompanied by the cracking sound of the barrier shattering, his figure suddenly stood still. He stood beside the Sword Forge, directly in front of Xu Qing.

The aura he unleashed swept in all directions, as if conjuring a storm in the area. Xu Qing's clothes flapped wildly, and his long hair scattered in the storm, but his figure stood like a mountain, not retreating a single step. His expression remained unchanged as he calmly gazed at the Fourth True Sovereign, who had appeared before him, and spoke faintly.

"What an exquisite mood you're in tonight, Fourth Senior Brother."

"It really is you!" A hoarse voice, carrying complex emotions, slowly emanated from the newcomer's mouth.

As his words echoed, countless bolts of lightning coursed over the Fourth True Sovereign's entire body, eventually spreading down his legs to the ground and expanding outwards with a rumbling sound. His eyes instantly locked onto Xu Qing, his last shred of hope having been shattered.

As his thoughts churned, the Fourth True Sovereign's expression grew incredibly grim, and the killing intent in his eyes was unprecedented.

"In terms of concealment, you truly surprised me..." The Fourth True Sovereign lifted his foot and took a step towards Xu Qing. "The rumors circulating earlier—you spread them! Then I used the Evil Spirit Child as a trap to lure you out, but you threw out the Fox Beauty instead."

The Fourth True Sovereign took another step.

"And when I arranged for Yuanshan Su to act, you relied on your alliance with the Evil Spirit Child to gain an identity for the Fox Beauty, causing my attempt to expel her to fail. After that, I revealed everything and successfully made the Evil Spirit Child rebel. But you... you made Yuanshan Su yield, ensured Zhong Chi's success, caused the Evil Spirit Child to commit suicide, and had Li Tianjiao intercept me."

"I admit, your methods are truly ingenious! After all, an identity that was impossible to obtain was overthrown by you, which means I no longer have any chance of victory in this decisive battle. Even my appearance here now, as long as I make a move... will create a disturbance! Presumably, this was also within your calculations."

The Fourth True Sovereign took his third step. He knew very well that his identity in this fourth-layer world and the opponent's identity could not possibly fight each other in normal history. Thus, once he made a move, a disturbance would naturally arise. Furthermore, as the battle continued and injuries appeared, the disturbance would only grow larger.

"But... in this round, I also have a choice that ensures I don't lose!" The moment the Fourth True Sovereign took his fourth step, his entire body roared with power, heavenly thunder exploded in all directions, and a terrifying aura suddenly surged. The killing intent in his eyes exploded forth, rushing directly towards Xu Qing!

His choice to not lose was to expel Xu Qing's consciousness. As long as he could achieve this, even if he had failed in maintaining order and the opponent might be expelled, for him, that would not be a loss. Furthermore, there was still a possibility of leveling the playing field later! After all, the crucial point of this fourth-layer world's timeline was the day of the grand wedding!

And at this moment, as his voice echoed, his aura surged, and his figure shot forth, chains formed from his Constitutional Order materialized out of thin air between heaven and earth. There were tens of thousands of these chains, each one densely packed. They filled the heavens and earth, emitting brilliant light that brightened the night sky above the Sword Forge. Even the thunder dimmed, and everything else paled in comparison under this order.

Not only that, but behind the Fourth True Sovereign, layers of formations rumbled into existence. There were nine layers in total, each more complex and vast than the last, shining with lights of different colors. They included all seven colors of the rainbow, as well as black and white. The nine colors and nine formations rotated against each other, emitting a terrifying pressure that shook heaven and earth. Combined with the tens of thousands of chains and the Fourth True Sovereign's own power, they now simultaneously pressed down towards Xu Qing.

His move was an all-out effort!

At the same time, inside the Sword Forge, the Myriad Army Vanguard, startled by Xu Qing's words, clearly sensed the changes outside.

"Regardless of whether that young master is an outsider like us...""Now, for us, this is the last and best opportunity! While they are fighting, we will go all out to accelerate the formation of the Immortal Sword! After this, everything here will have no relation to us. Even if they shatter space-time and wreak havoc upon each other, it will have no karmic ties with us! The fortune of this fourth world, for us, is about to be seized!"

Inside the Sword Forge, the divine senses of the Myriad Army Vanguard fluctuated. Seizing the opportunity, they all unleashed their full power, sparing no cost to accelerate the Immortal Sword, causing its formation speed to suddenly double. In an instant, the Sword Forge roared, and the sword qi within surged to the heavens, mysteriously connected to the sky. The Immortal Sword was about to be born!

A sharp glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. He naturally saw the changes in the Sword Forge and understood that the opponents intended to take advantage of his battle with Star Ring Child to accelerate its formation and avoid karmic ties. At the same time, he also knew clearly that if this were outside, he would be no match for Star Ring Child in a confrontation. The opponent, as the First Star, whose constitution was self-realized and possessed profound and mysterious power, was himself a peak Dominion, a half-step Great Emperor. He even had a record of defeating a Great Emperor...

But this was the fourth-layer world. The host's physical body could compensate for the weakness of his insufficient cultivation. Even if the opponent was possessing the Fourth True Sovereign's body and could exert power beyond their own, the surrounding space-time ripples were also Xu Qing's weapons. And being within it was also the most suitable battlefield for him. Furthermore... the host's identity was an even greater weapon.

So, facing the approaching Fourth True Sovereign, Xu Qing raised his right hand and waved it, and immediately an invisible space-time storm exploded forth with a rumbling sound before him, causing the whistling chains to blur one after another. At the same time, Xu Qing waved his right hand again, and immediately, a swath of space-time sand floated before him, enveloping his entire body and integrating his presence into space-time, making him appear indistinct.

"Your scheme is indeed ingenious, but your flaw... is that you are too weak!"

The Fourth True Sovereign gazed at Xu Qing and raised his hand, pointing to the sky. Immediately, the nine layers of formations that had materialized earlier greatly increased their rotational speed, forming a roaring vortex from which an ancient aura emanated. Following that, a greenish stone tablet was dramatically pulled out from within the vortex. The moment it appeared, a profound sense of time permeated the air, along with an intense feeling of vastness. On the stone tablet, unknown characters flowed like runes, appearing extremely mysterious. The surrounding chains of order trembled even more, and the power of order surged dramatically at this moment. As if this stone tablet was one of the origins of order!

Now pulled out by the Fourth True Sovereign to become the core of the formation, he suddenly pressed it down towards Xu Qing.

"With Order as Sequence, Expel!"

The heavens and earth changed color, winds arose and clouds surged. The greenish stone tablet roared, carrying the vortex formation and bearing the might of order, emitting an intent to expel as it pressed down towards Xu Qing. Even the space-time ripples before it showed signs of dissipating. It seemed about to completely suppress him.

Xu Qing suddenly looked up and spoke softly. "Fourth Senior Brother," he said, "you've made too many moves in coming here... You've already stepped into my Chaotic Sea of Space-Time."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and gently waved it forward, stirring the time-sand permeating the surroundings, causing the grains to scatter throughout the heavens and earth. Colliding and drifting against each other, they thus formed countless different timelines. These were disorderly timelines.

Time is not merely about accelerating its flow, reversing years, or freezing moments. It has deeper manifestations. It is like a boundless river of nothingness, omnipresent. But it is not fixed or immutable; external forces or other changes can cause it to undergo different alterations, like the Time Desert transformed from the Life-Bound Treasure of the Aurora Immortal Lord's wife. What it showcased were the branches of time.

"Whoever enters my Chaotic Sea," Xu Qing declared, "will bear the power of time. Every movement you make will create a disorderly timeline, immersing you in chaos. Amidst countless timelines, you will either die or go mad!" A cold light rose in Xu Qing's eyes. "Those who enter the sea suffer, leading to calamity, with no cessation of time," he intoned. "Hence it is called... Avici!"

The moment his voice echoed, on every surrounding chain, on every rune of the formations, even on the descending greenish stone tablet, and even on the Fourth True Sovereign's original body... at this instant, as the space-time sand spread and collided, countless threads of time appeared, entangling all of them within, causing the chains, formations, greenish stone, and the Fourth True Sovereign to appear twisted, blurred, and even overlapped.

The Chaotic Sea of Space-Time erupted with a roar, responding to order with chaos!

Facing this disorderly Chaotic Sea, the Fourth True Sovereign, entangled by countless timelines within it, revealed a sharp glint in his eyes, staring at Xu Qing.

"Such a method of breaking order... If this were outside, it could indeed cause me some trouble. But do you know why I possessed the Fourth True Sovereign's body?" The Fourth True Sovereign lifted his foot and took a step forward. With a roar, the disorderly Chaotic Sea of Space-Time stirred, and ripples appeared. The Chaotic Sea was disorderly, yet precisely these ripples that appeared were all orderly, ring after ring!

"That is because," the Fourth True Sovereign declared, "the Fourth True Sovereign is precisely the original creator of my Star Ring Pagoda! Although he perished in the Immortal Palace Cataclysm, the Order Pagoda he created continued to exist outside the Immortal Palace to this day, only its name was changed to Star Ring! And I, inheriting the name Star Ring, my enlightenment is also Order. Therefore... here, my order aligns with that of the Fourth True Sovereign, allowing me to manifest the Fourth True Sovereign's source of order!"

The Fourth True Sovereign raised his head, and starlight appeared in his eyes. Within his two eyes, at this moment, two star seas suddenly appeared! Within each star sea, there were billions of stars, shining and aligning with each other... And a vast voice echoed between heaven and earth.

"Order is rules. Without rules, nothing can be perfectly shaped. And 'gui' is the compass, 'ju' is the square. As the saying goes: 'By leveling the square, one can straighten the line; by inclining it, observe height; by inverting it, measure depth; by laying it flat, ascertain distance; by circling it, draw circles; and by combining it, form squares.'"

Each word of his voice became a Daoist chant. The moment it echoed, the star sea in the Fourth True Sovereign's left eye saw its stars align, forming a square and a curved ruler! His right eye rotated, forming a compass of heaven and earth! It was precisely... with the square, he defined life and death, and with the compass, he drew the cycle of reincarnation!